Some larger solar collector installations include arrays of sun-tracking, solar power collector assemblies. Such assemblies can be used in conjunction with photovoltaic modules, concentrated photovoltaic modules, as well as concentrated thermal solar collector devices.
Sun-tracking solar energy systems include hardware for automatically adjusting the position of the collector devices to track the sun as it moves across the sky. Some known systems include parallel rows of solar energy collection devices supported on pivoting shafts, known as “torque tubes.” The torque tubes are pivoted to tilt the solar energy collection devices so as to track the movement of the sun.
Further, some systems (a.k.a. “ganged” systems) include a reduced number of drive devices, for example, where each drive device is connected to a plurality of parallel torque tubes. Such systems can benefit from the cost reduction of using fewer drives, which can include expensive electric motors, control circuitry, and other hardware.